St. Serra left a lasting legacy

Another vicious, ill-informed rant from Bill Deneen, this time about St. Junipero Serra, appeared recently in the New Times letters section (“Serra is no saint,” Oct. 8). Such hate speech wouldn’t be tolerated if his target wasn’t a European missionary and a monk, who Deneen raves should be burned in effigy.

If you know anything at all about St. Serra, you see that he well deserved the sainthood that was conferred on him last month by Pope Francis. He was a man of his time and no doubt not the enlightened p.c. figure that some would demand today. But St. Serra was also a humble compassionate man who served God to the best of his ability and left a lasting mark on our state.

Who among us can say the same? Let’s see what Bill Deneen’s legacy is in 300 years.